The late US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was seen as arguably the most significant occupants of that position in the nation's history. Although countless VPs had to settle for marginal or symbolic roles, Cheney exercised substantial power during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently described as the "true president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and stated the dynamic was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, always calling him in public as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their partnership as a team because it suggested that they were on equal footing. In spite of such protestations, Cheney viewed the relaxed president pliable on a whole raft of policy decisions.
A Aftermath of 9/11
In charge of a faction of neo-conservatives that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a meeting at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, commanding the downing of any unresponsive planes nearing the government building.
Cheney stated the attacks changed him, leading him to become focused on revenge. Along with other neo-cons, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Debated Decisions
He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the enhanced interrogation of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on misleading reports circulated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It was the correct action to do at that time. I believed it then and I believe it presently."
However even then, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I saw, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, inaction, and unaccountability: in the worst case, falsehoods, unfitness, and graft."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had written a memo detailing situations in which US concerns might be compromised (featuring "access to essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be positioned to act independently when joint efforts cannot be arranged," explicitly mentioning armed actions against Iraq.
Bush also had entered the Oval Office generally inclined on executing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been dismissed by the administration, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his intention of diminishing America's involvement in the regional tensions and proposed military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a conspiracy to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his father's face that each person had to step on.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken behind striking Iraq, repeatedly referencing intelligence reports that were whether insubstantial or totally misleading. He supported what the Bush White House politely called as "intensive questioning", the employment of waterboarding and torture.
Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that found that no useful information had resulted from the torture, Cheney dismissed the findings as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish initiatives to apprehend the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."
Public Persona
Cheney took pleasure in labels given to him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the evil genius in the background that operates invisibly leave his hole? That is a advantageous way to work, truthfully."
Corporate Connections
Debate over his business interests followed him during his tenure as second-in-command. While he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but good contacts in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest oil and gas companies, in 1995 as chairman and top executive.
In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the White House. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US contracts valued at billions.
It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the company rose from his quarter-million dollars while military head to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling more than $20m|twenty
